AMES, Iowa (AP) – One night after the Iowa State men's team was
upset in the NCAA Tournament, the women made sure the same thing
didn't happen to them.
|  | | Iowa State's Megan Taylor, left, battles for a rebound with Howard's Andrea Gardner. |
Angie Welle made one short shot after another while scoring 16
of her 23 points in the first half, and Iowa State cruised past
Howard 100-61 Friday night in the first round of the Midwest
Regional.
The second-seeded Cyclones (26-5) shot 70 percent in building a
30-point halftime lead against their 15th-seeded opponent and made
sure that what happened in the men's tournament on Thursday night
would not be repeated.
The Iowa State men, also a No. 2 seed, lost to 15th-seeded
Hampton, which, like Howard, is a member of the Mid-Eastern
Athletic Conference.
"I put a sheet on each of the players' lockers of all the
upsets in the tournaments, not just our men," Iowa State coach
Bill Fennelly said. "Our kids were disappointed the guys lost. But
there was no extra pressure for us to play tonight."
The Cyclones certainly played like they were free of pressure.
They beat Howard (21-10) in transition, scored from the perimeter
in their half-court sets and when the 6-foot-4 Welle got the ball,
she was almost automatic.
Welle made seven of eight shots in the first half and rebounded
the one she missed and put it back in. She finished 9-for-11 and
grabbed 10 rebounds in just 20 minutes.
"I was trying to get up the floor as fast as I could," Welle
said. "They were just getting me the ball."
Iowa State also frustrated Howard's Andrea Gardner with its
collapsing 2-3 zone, double-teaming her whenever she touched the
ball. Gardner, the nation's leading rebounder, had only two points
in the first half and finished with 19. Her eight rebounds were six
below her average.
"In the first half, it kind of bothered me because I really
wasn't getting the ball and when I got the ball, they were doubling
down on me," Gardner said. "I couldn't get into my game. Once I
re-evaluated myself, I came back in the second half and played my
game."
Lindsey Wilson and Erica Junod added 13 points each for Iowa
State, which plays Florida State in the second round Sunday. The
Seminoles advanced with a 72-70 victory over Tulane.
Megan Taylor and Tracy Gahan each scored 12 points for the
Cyclones, who shot 57 percent for the game, and Erica Haugen had 11
assists. Chanell Washington led Howard with 20 points.
"It's obviously a game everybody thought we should win, but I
thought from the very beginning we were motivated to play,"
Fennelly said. "I think sometimes you take these games for
granted, but this team had a great sense of urgency from the very
beginning and they played that way for 40 minutes."
Welle and Wilson got the Cyclones started by combining for the
team's first 18 points, 11 by Welle. Leading 34-21, Iowa State made
six straight shots – three of them 3-pointers – in closing the
first half with a 17-0 run to go up 51-21.
Two free throws by Welle started the scoring in the second half
and Iowa State went on to lead by as many as 47.
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ALSO SEE
Women's College Basketball Scoreboard
Howard Clubhouse
Iowa State Clubhouse
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